The statement hails the proposal as the most just and timely patriotic one in view of the urgent situation, the aspiration and demand of the times and the nation and in the light of the public opinion at home and abroad.

We do not want to see the present south Korean authorities pass the five-year term of their office idly without north-south dialogue, the statement noted, clarifying the following stand:

First. We formally propose an unconditional and early opening of the talks between the authorities of the north and the south.

The level of the talks and their venue and the date of their opening may be decided under a bilateral agreement.

Second. The suspended Red Cross talks, talks for the resumption of tour of Mt. Kumgang and the talks for Kaesong Industrial Zone should be restarted at an early date.

We propose that the delegations to the talks perform their duties as before, or new ones be formed. We also propose that Kaesong be their venues and they take place at the end of January or in the first half of February.

Third. The closed Panmunjom north-south Red Cross passage should be reopened and the freezing of the Consultative Office for North-South Economic Cooperation in the Kaesong Industrial Zone be lifted as a measure of good faith for opening the channel of dialogue and improving the north-south relations.

According to this, the Panmunjom Red Cross liaison representatives of the north side will soon begin their work and those concerned of the north side will be dispatched to the above-said office to be permanently stationed there.

The statement stressed that there is neither conditionality in the north's proposal for dialogue nor need to cast any doubt about its real intention.

The south Korean authorities should discard any unnecessary misgiving, open their hearts and positively respond to the north's proposal and measure, it urged.